Top 25 Nigerian Websites

May 24, 2010 by Albert Njoku

I had a look at the alexa.com ranking of the top 100 websites in Nigeria and no surprises, it was dominated by foreign startups. However, I would say there has been tremendous improvements over the years in the Nigerian web presence. More people are blogging these days and lots of forums have sprung up here and there. There are quite a few popular social networks too.

Before I continue, page ranking either by Google or alexa.com are constantly changing. They depend on some algorithm known only to these search engines but are hugely influenced by popularity and how good and unique a website\'s content is. Proper search engine optimisation also plays a significant role albeit not as much as well written, original content.

The top 25 list looks slightly different when arranged by Google page rank. Unlike the generous alexa.com, it appears Google requires slighltly more from webmasters to earn their ranking. By Google page ranking, the top 5 Nigerian websites are:
 
1.) www.ngrguardiannews.com - PR7
2.) www.thisdayonline.com - PR7
3.) www.zenithbank.com PR7
4.) www.punchng.com - PR6
5.) www.nairaland.com - PR5  (at least 2 other sites rank PR5 also)

Google search crawlers love websites that constantly churn out fresh, unique, content. Hence the newspaper sites rank higher than everyone else. Page rank 7 is no mean feat. The greater the number of page views and visitors, the better a website\'s chances of advancing in ranking.

A look at the top 25 sites (below) also reveal at least 4 job boards - a real requirement given the high level of unemployment in Nigeria. I think this is one niche area that needs to be exploited. Good job.

Prominent in the list and ranked at number 1 by alexa.com is nairaland.com. I dont know with what parameters they arrived at that result but nairaland is definitely a fun place. Having been around since 2005, its a rich source of user uploaded information or just a place to hang out. Ironically, Google has only allowed them a page rank of 5 (which is still a lot). Forums are not exactly filled with \"well written\" content. Loads of stuff in them are copied contents pasted by members for illustration - duplicate content. Search crawlers hate duplicate content. There is, also, a lot of grammatical syntax errors and discussions in local dialect which leaves search engines bewildered. That said, I think nairaland might have got this far on the strenght of its popularity. They get thousands of page view and visitors per day.

Where are the blogs then? Am aware there are quite a few interesting Nigerian bloggers out there. Featured in our list is bellanaija.com - a celebrity news blog. I\'ve had a look at it and I think its an excellent celeb news site. Am sure they will be in the top 10 soon.

There are lots of unexplored areas in need of web automation in Nigeria. Apart from the SMS services, my one wish is to see a utility built around mobile phones. There are more mobile phones in Nigeria than computers and they are to be found even in the most remote parts of the nation. Building a phone based application could reap millions in revenue. What sort of application are we talking about? Have a look at the iphone app store for ideas.

Now lets have a look at the top 25 Nigerian owned websites within the top 100 sites in Nigeria. Alexa.com has ranked them (I believe), according to popularity, page view and number of visitors. Topping the list, of course, are the likes of Google, facebook and Yahoo but we are focused on Nigerian websites.